Choccyaddict

The good news is that I will have a NATO dependants VISA to work in the US when my husband is posted to work at Travis AFB, CA. The bad news is that I have no idea how the US job market works. I am leaving the RAF when we move. I have been a logistics manager for the last 8 1/2 years and will be looking for an operations management or procurement job ideally but I have also recruited for 2years so can do that if required.

What are the best jobsite to use?

How do I find out what the salaries are? If they are negotiated how do I work out a starting figure? Do I convert my current wage into dollars? How do I find out if this is realistic.

Lastly I joined the RAF at 18 and was managing teams of 35 people with budgets of £6million by the time I was 19, but do not have a degree, will companies automatically deselect me because of this? I have the opportunity to gain a BSc, but would need to complete a 2year course in 6months, so will need it to be worth the effort!!

Thanks for your patience in reading this post; I hope that you can help!

scrubbedexpat099

Sounds like a very hard ask unless you have some good contacts to overcome the lack of qualifications.

We interviewed yesterday for a temp job $20 an hour, minimum qualification was a bachelors degree.

Choccyaddict

Really? Oh dear, over here my experience in a variety of high level jobs would have opened up more doors than a degree.........

So the advice would be to focus on gaining the degree before we move?

ian-mstm

This sort of question is probably better addressed in the general USA forum rather than the immigration forum... since it's really not an immigration issue.

Perhaps a moderator can move the thread.

Ian

Philgr

What you get paid depends very much on job title, location and industry. If you have a pretty common job sites like payscale.com can help you figure out what a reasonable salary is.

If you have an unusual job their numbers are probably less useful.

Mummy in the foothills

Jobs anywhere near Travis AFB are pretty scarce right now. Pretty much all over CA in fact. I hope your Dh got a good deal where you'll be able to make it on a single wage for a while.
The AFB hires civilians don't they? Maybe you can get in there once your Dh is on.

Bob

what's a nato visa?

Anyway...

http://www.payscale.com/

http://www.glassdoor.com/index.htm

http://www.jobvent.com/

Those are for salaries...getting a job, depends on what your after, monster, careerbuilder, craigslist, etc...but best is your own network of contacts via linkedin or whatever other network of contacts you have.

Get a degree as well, it helps massively get you past the HR sorting machine.

Choccyaddict

A NATO visa is given to spouses of NATO military personnel that serve in alongside the US military; my husband will be flying aircraft for the US Air Force.

Doesn't sound good on the job availability front, luckily I don't need to work for financial reasons, just for my sanity. I really don't want to work on base especially as we will be living there, I want to have a life outside of the base!

Payscale was very useful thank you. I will start on the degree this morning!

Ray

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_2638.html

chrisfromusa

I would also add http://swz.salary.com it's also another good site to figure out salaries for any given area in the country. Lot of Americans use www.monster.com and www.hotjobs.com for job searches, but personally I think finding out the newspapers of the area you want to move to would be a very good resource as well.

Rete

Unfortunately, not in the US. My husband had 36 years of RCAF experience with computer hardware and software, even working with the US Navy and US Air Force and Litton Corp when he was still in the RCAF. Once he retired and moved here, he could not find anyone willing to even interview him because he doesn't have a degree.

taffie77

On a similar note I've been trying to find out average salaries for my line of work (I'm moving over with my husband, me on an L2, looking to work as a Quality Engineer / Manager). I've done a search on Monster.com and similar, but they don't list salaries. My H's HR have told me what they consider I should expect, but it's a lot higher than what I'm on now (not that I'm complaining if it's correct ). I've also looked at payscale and similar, but they seem to list just a few salaries at quite a wide spread. I shall have a look at some of those others Bob has listed though.

Good Luck with the job hunting Choccyaddict!

chrisfromusa

http://swz.salary.com will most likely post your average salary. not specific but you'll have a good idea of what your salary should be

pejpm1

ironically, I dont have a degree and out of my circle of 15 or so English mates over here, only 2 have a degree. We all have very good jobs and work in finance mainly on L1B's and L1A's....but if any of us were to quit and re-apply as a local we probably wouldnt even get interviewed

Bob

indeed.com aggregates those for you...